Many restaurants, retail establishments, and other commercial enterprises establish labor budgets as a percentage of revenue. For example, a restaurant may establish a labor budget for a particular day as 25% of its expected sales that day, so that if the restaurant is expected to earn $10,000 in sales, its labor budget for that day is $2,500. The way that this labor budget is “spent” may, for example, be influenced by characteristics of the restaurant. For example, a restaurant with a drive-through window may dedicate an employee to assisting drive-up customers throughout the day, while a restaurant without a drive-through window may not. Other roles for restaurant employees may include, but are not limited to, cashier roles, food preparation (“production line”) roles, “expediter” roles (e.g., responsible for completing final assembly of customer orders, checking that orders are accurately fulfilled, ensuring that food preparation staff prepared orders in accordance with customer specifications, etc.) and cleaner roles.
Often, commercial enterprises that establish a labor budget based on expected sales employ a static, predefined employee deployment model, meaning that employees are assigned particular roles throughout their shifts. One problem with static employee deployment models is that they may not appropriately satisfy changing demand for various functions performed by employees throughout a typical day. For example, many restaurants experience busy periods during common meal times, and so the need for employees in specific roles, and the number of employees needed overall, may be different during busy periods and slow periods. As such, some commercial enterprises employ peak period employee deployment models and slow period employee deployment models to manage staffing levels and workforce composition over the course of a day.
Employee deployment models may define when additional staff are called into work, such as if actual sales exceed expected sales by a threshold amount. For example, an employee deployment model for a restaurant may provide for, if it appears during the course of a given day that the restaurant will exceed its $10,000 expected sales by ten percent, calling certain employees into work to satisfy customer demand, and assigning those employees to certain roles if they are called. Some employee deployment models employ theoretical “floors” and/or “ceilings” which specify a minimum and maximum number of employees, respectively, to be working at any one time regardless of sales amount.
Some restaurants use employee certification procedures or the like to assess and identify the employees which are best suited to particular roles. As a result, if an employee deployment model for a restaurant provides for a total of ten employees working at a particular time, information on each employee's expertise and prior experience may be used to determine which employee is assigned which role. This information may be used to determine not only the roles in which employees are initially deployed, but also the roles to which employees are redeployed if the composition of the workforce or circumstances in the restaurant change.